Kids love pancakes, and mine are no different. What better way to enjoy some family time in the morning than making and eating pancakes with real, Michigan maple syrup? Now, pancakes are a favorite around our house, though we don't have them a lot. Though delicious, they aren't the healthiest breakfast option.
As an aside, when the twins were much smaller and first eating pancakes, I read the label on the box of pancake mix and then read the recipe in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, our most trusted cookbook. Well, if you read my post on Cool Whip, you know the story: ingredients that sound like petrochemicals vs. a short simple list of ingredients your grandmother would recognize as food. So we started making our pancakes from scratch, including the baking powder.
One day while trolling the interwebs, I stumbled across Jim's Pancakes. Wow was that a revelation, so with the goal of turning a family event into a foodie family event, we made a humble attempt at shaped pancakes. Here are a few of my first ones. The later ones were a bit better, but I don't have pictures of those; things got a bit chaotic in the kitchen around that time.
For a first go, I'm pleased. I wish I had pictures of the ones the boys made. I hadn't had my coffee yet, so I'll use that as an excuse for not having better pictures. Jim's pancakes put mine to shame, but I have something to aspire to. When I start making more complicated architectural pancakes, I'll be happy, but seeing the smiles on my boys faces this morning as they made their own car and dinosaur pancakes was perfect and beautiful in its simplicity.
You hadn't had your coffee yet? I totally understand that with one five year old let alone three.
ReplyDeletePancakes are the best! We just made the "just add water" ones the other day. Although they were not from scratch they came out perfectly brown.
Shaped pancakes is taking pancakes to a whole new level. I am definitely introducing this to my family - my sisters will love it!
ReplyDeleteYou should try having pancakes for supper some night. Better yet, make the pancakes and then try to convince your kids it's morning. I did that once to my nephew and he got so frustrated in trying to tell me that when it's dark outside, it's time to go to bed.
ReplyDelete@ Ms. Moreno -- Mmmm... perfectly brown pancakes. . . mmmm
ReplyDelete@ Shonda -- We sometimes have Backwards Day and start with dinner and end with breakfast. I have always loved breakfast food for dinner and my children have seemed to have inherited that.
@ Leila -- If you want to try shaped pancakes, definitely check out Jim's Pancakes. There are great ideas there.
My friends and I tried an experiment once: we put a metal cookie cutter in the pan and then poured some batter into the mold. It was a disaster! The pancakes were impossible to flip and they were so thick they never cooked all the way through. We are definitely going to have to try this method!
ReplyDeleteWe love pancakes around here too. My son is the self-appointed pancake chef of the house. When I was a kid my brother and I would stay with my grandmother, and we would talk her into putting food coloring in the batter. The green ones always grossed her out, so that was usually the one we chose. Poor grandma, she loved us, and made them green, laughing the whole time. Great pics of the pancakes. I hadn't thought of using a squirt container. I'll have to tell my son about that one.
ReplyDeleteFor April Fools Day one time, my mom made pancakes but put string in the batter. We didn't know this until we sat at the table and labored in our attempts to cut bite-sized pieces of cake. That was probably 35 years ago, and I still go to counseling every day in an attempt to mitigate the effects of that traumatic experience.
ReplyDelete@ John -- I so have to try that. I love your mom.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea. What I would like though is a pancake griddle. Its so hard to get those perfectly shaped pancakes McDonalds does. I'de like to do more pancakes with my daughter this summer. Maybe some fresh strawberry topping.
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